Alone
by darkrunner
Summary: Azure fic for a contest. Anzu and Kaiba meet at a mutual friend's grave. Implied polar, ardent, and puzzle if you squint. Rated for death.


1**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yugioh. If I did, Jounouchi and Mai would have confessed their love for each other in episode 92.

Pairings: Azure, implied polar, ardent, and puzzle

A/N: I'm sorry, Yugi!! It was a busy week, and this was the only plotline I could think of!! We only had a week to write the fics, and my week was so busy, I had to do this in only two hours! Literally! Maybe two and fifteen minutes, tops!

It was raining. Anzu stood alone in front of the grave, crying. Everyone else had left, even Jonouchi and Honda. They thought she had left, too, but she had no reason to. There was no one waiting for her. No one would know, or care, if she stayed at the grave all night.

Yugi's grave.

He had been in Egpyt, to the tombs where Pegasus had found the Duel Monsters carvings. The tomb had collapsed, with him in it.

So now Anzu was here, standing at his newly-dug grave. The funeral had been earlier that day. They had wanted to keep it small, but the number of people that attended was incredible. Literally hundreds of people had lined the grassy hills of the cemetary. It seemed liked every duelist he had ever fought, or been in a tournament with, had come that day. Even Mai had come out of hiding for the first time since Doom.

"Even in death," Anzu said quietly. "He still brings us together."

"He would have wanted it that way," a voice said. Anzu jumped, and whirled around. Seto Kaiba stepped forward, holding a pair of umbrellas. He offered one to Anzu.

"Thanks," she mumbled, quickly wiping the tears from her face.

Everyone Yugi had ever met had been there.

Except for Kaiba.

_If he was going to come anyway, why didn't he come before? _Anzu thought angrily, glancing at him. Kaiba was staring intently at the grave. Maybe it was because it was so dark, but Anzu couldn't see any signs of sadness on his face. Why did he have to come now? She wanted to be alone. This was her time to mourn. No one else could understand it. She had known Yugi since they were kids, almost 18 years. Jonouchi and Honda had only met him in high school. Yugi was always there for her. What was there left for her now? Jonouchi had Mai now that she was back, Honda had Shizuka, who did Anzu have? They were all still friends, but it wasn't the same. Anzu had finally moved to New York, while everyone else stayed in Japan. They were all happy for her, but she didn't want them to be happy. She wanted them to tell her to come back to Japan, because she didn't want to stay in America anymore. She was alone in America. She used to call them every week, but when they wouldn't tell her to come back, she started calling less, and eventually, she stopped. She hadn't even known about Yugi's trip until they called to tell her that he was... until it was too late.

They said he had been trying to learn more about Duel Monsters, but Anzu knew... he was chasing after Atem.

_He never loved me like that,_ she thought. _At least... he can be with Atem now..._

She wanted to be happy for him. She knew he wouldn't want her crying over him. So why was she doing exactly that?

"Don't cry," Kaiba said. Anzu looked up sharply. Lost in her own thoughts, she had forgotten about Kaiba. He was still staring intently at the grave.

"He wouldn't want you... or anyone... to cry," Kaiba said softly. Anzu blinked in surprise. Was this the same Kaiba? She looked at him more closely. He expression was still unremoreseful, but his eyes... Anzu had never looked in his eyes like this before...

"I didn't think," Kaiba said, lowering his head. "That this would be so... hard..."

Anzu looked down, guilty for being angry with him before. "I'm sorry," she said.

Kaiba chuckled softly. "I'm the one who should be saying that to you. You were a lot closer with him than I was."

Anzu shifted uncomfortably. When they were in school togther, she would have said yes, but now? "Maybe..." she said.

Kaiba looked at her questioningly. "I hadn't talked to him for years," she explained. "I... I don't even remember the last thing I said to him."

"I don't remember the last time I spoke to him outside of a duel," Kaiba said. "Which, considering what I usually say to people during duels, is probably worse."

Anzu didn't say anything. What could she say? He was probably right.

"You know, Yugi was the first person to call me a friend," Kaiba continued. "I wish I could have at least told him..." Kaiba said sadly. "I did think of him as a friend, too... even if I never said anything..."

Anzu looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sure he knew," she said.

Kaiba looked down, and didn't say anything. After a moment more, he turned to walk away.

"Wait--" Anzu started to say.

"I'm done here," Kaiba said. "Besides, you wanted to be alone."

"N-no," Anzu lied. "Well, yes, but..."

"It's okay," he said, turning around. "I wouldn't want my company either." He headed down the hill. Anzu turned back to look at the grave. Alone.

Suddenly, she didn't want to be alone anymore. When she had heard that Yugi died, she thought nothing would be the same. She had, at one time, loved him. If he was gone, then she could never be with anyone else. But why did it have to be like that? Even in the face of such a tragedy, everyone else was able to find love. The only thing stopping her was herself.

She glanced at the stone one last time. "Goodbye, Yugi," she said softly. Turning away from the grave, she started walking down the hill.

"Kaiba!" she called. He stopped and turned around.

The rain had stopped.


End file.
